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This blog was originally dedicated to my 2009 study abroad experience in Brisbane, Australia. Now, it's a weblog I update with thoughts, indulgences, and fun quirks. In the future, I hope this blog will chronicle my journey career in medicine, but also act as a cultural ethnography of my travels to come.

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sooo school started .. ! & we have no practical + tutorial (discussions) this week so its been somewhat relaxing. for most of my classes, its similar to sc w/different professors switching off based on the topic, except here they switch off every week. so for two of my classes ill be having about 5-10 professors—don’t know how thatll turn out! i have one professor who looks like hes 20 (maybe he is a genius) and you’d think he’d be a great, interactive lecturer but too bad he sucks. he talks like hes 80 and has a monotone voice and goes through slides so fast (& thinks a 10 min break makes up for it). no sireee! & surprising fact but there are literally no people who use laptops here. in my classes, i see like 3-5 people w/them open, and i think they’re americans. interesting. and something that i find a bit annoying is that instead of “idea” they say “idear” here. HAHAHAHHA. ok

oh. so this morning i awoke to a lovely alarm. apparently the principal of our college decided to set a fire drill for this morning at 7, and it was the weirdest alarm ever. first it was beeping, so i thought ok. i can sleep through this. and then it morphed into some funky holocaust-y siren & that definitely forced me to climb out of bed. i put my pants on backwards at first–yes, thats how out of it i was– & then when i finally made my way out i realized that half our building was still inside bc people here at lazy/slow like that! my friends slept through it. HOWWWWW!!! & then the principal came & told us we were all too slow & would have been burned alive by now. HAHA what a lovely thing to hear first thing in the morning. ohhh you aussies
ahahha and to top off the wonderful day, i discover this morning that my apartmentmate locked our bathroom door shut w/no one in it! i didnt eat before maintenance came bc i just cant w/o brushing my teeth, so i made all my breakfast and lunch and put it on my desk and watched it. so waiting for maintenance was like waiting for my savoir. hhehe ohh what an eventful day.

& i discovered today that this is an amazing lunch: corn on the cob, toast with chili crab & chives, guacamole/salsa sauce, tomato, chicken breast w/rosemary, & apples w/brie! SO DELICIOUS. try it :) recommended by the true pig who has not seem to have lost any weight yet… despite the fact that australians here are mostly tall and skinny :(

alrighty off to lecture i go~~ no new photos today :( if im not in class, im in my apartment (on the computer, now that i bought so much internet!) so i havent taken my camera around! this weekend i might go to the botanical gardens on mt. kootha. if i do, ill definitely take photos of the exotic trees!

thursday i went to the City again just to shop around & bought a printer.. not much happened i guess, but it was super tiring! :( but friday was so much fun! i went to the koala sanctuary w/4 other friends & we stayed there for half a day!! there we saw at least 30 koalas, mostly sleeping & curled up in a tree ( i got to take a picture taken of me holding one!), and fed/pet kangaroos! they also had tasmanian devils (which are going extinct), wombats, peacocks, different types of exotic birds, dingos, lizards, crocodiles, & farm animals! they were soo cute, im gonna post the pictures below!! as for saturday, we went to the West End markets again & then to a city named Indooroopilly (which is pronounced Indoorpilly). i guess australians just like to add extra vowels in between words randomly! its a huge mall & theres tons of people there. so many high school students dressed up in uniforms everywhere. and they have to wear hats & carry huge school bags. its weird..why were they in their uniforms on saturday? :Op hm, today, i went to the direct factory outlets near the brisbane airport, which took forever to get to, & afterwards visited the City again just to run a couple of errands. and…the day is almost over!

school starts tomorrow :( wednesday there is a Market Day on campus, which is similar to sc’s club day but w/a lot of activities & sports going on too. campus is huge, but im sure itll be packed. its unfortunate bc i have a straight 10am-1pm, 2-5 block of class only on wed. luckily i only have an hour lecture on M & no class on fridays, which makes up for it! i know i shouldnt be complaining, bc this is an amazing schedule to have if i were back home, but here people have 4 day weekends w/no class M & Fri!!! :O

aiyy it was a long day, i took the bus 4 times and then the train too, and there was a lot of walking involved so im going to cook dinner & probably head to bed early. i only have a section in the fridge that is currently bursting with groceries, so im going to cook all the veggies in one dish. i bought a pumpkin squash, green beans, bok choy, eggs, tomatoes, corn, so im wondering how its going to taste! eepppp!

helloooo!!
so today i went to the City & bought boots & flats to finally keep my feet warm :O phew, what a relief! & then i went to a korean market & bought tons of food. its good to have asian food :)

& tomorrow im going to the koala sanctuary & there they have koalas, of course, and kangaroos & all these wild exotic animals! im excited, but i also heard they charge you $15 to take one picture with a koala :( might as well do it if im there!

alrighty, i was bored & thought this list would be fun.

ever since arriving in australia, ive:

1. learned what a tim-tam was & how to eat it! you get a tim tam orgasm bc when you use it as a straw & drink hot milk/coffee the whole wafer implodes and if you don’t stuff it into your mouth & eat up the whole thing it melts entirely. it tastes DELICIOUS!! i cant wait to bring some back :O)
2. bought vegemite, tried it & actually thought it was okay
3. learned that the distance from perth to brisbane is equivalent to US’s LA to NY. australia only looks small on the map. even cities 1 cm away from brisbane on a map take an hour to get to
4. realized to never use power strips from US here! they max out the electricity in a room :O
5. discovered ‘how you goin’ translates to ‘how are you doing today’, not ‘how are you getting there?’
6. found everything is basically closed after 430 pm, except restaurants of course
7. realized little birds are deceiving-they make the loudest of noises!! & sometimes sound like monkeys.
8. found that everyone counts/tracks internet usage by phone or computer in MB or GB. there is no “unlimited” here. the internet & phone system is far inferior to that of the US!
9. learned that for food, double all US prices= AU cost! standard of living is higher than that of the US or england!
10. learned that there are people from china everywhere here. ~1/4 of all international students (~400/1500 total) are from china, while only 200 are from the US!
11. mailing postcards back overseas, i found out the postage costs more than the card itself!
12. learned that aniseed=licorice
13. had the shock of my life that school gym membership is a shitload—$300+ for 3 months only! & a year is $800!
14. learned that cricket & rugby is pretty much the american equivalent of football

hm. cant think of much else, maybe ill make another list like this later on as i spend more time here! alrighty im heading to bed soon! goodnightttt

hehe i just spent the whole today sitting on my lazy ass watching season 2 and 3 of FRIENDS!! ahh i love the show it totally cracks me up. i love chandler!! hes my favorite hehe and hes so cute :O)

anyway i have orientation tomorrow from 8am to 4pm sadly! going to be super long, but at least i understand what they’re saying right? there are so so many asians here for certain majors its crazy. my apartmentmate from china said in her accounting orientation she saw only 3 non-asians and then questioned why she even bothered to leave her country in the first place! shes basically taking the class with all chinese people from china anyway :O hm speaking of apartmentmates one of them arrived two days ago and shes also from the US! she goes to cornell & studies neurobiology–what a coincidence, huh? and out of all 4 of us in the apartment, 3 of our birthdays are in october, and the dates are on the 23, 25, and 26.. spooky hahhah october is going to be funnn :)

and im sending out some of my postcards soon in the mail! i bought them from the City at a little souvenir travel shop & they also sell really cute small kangaroo and koala furry backpacks & small little cases, im guessing for cameras and phones. hahaha i was thinking of bringing the backpacks back but that might be embarrassing to wear since the animals are sorta really big on it and 3D ahaha :X oh & shocking but i thought sheep stuff such as the UGG shoes would be cheaper here but they’re like $200+!! how??? they look a little different too!

ohhkay school starts in a week! im sorta really dreading it but i guess on the bright side itll force me to attempt to be productive & ill get more exercise climbing the stupid hill up to campus everyday :Op haha but i dont have super long blocks like i do back @ sc so it isnt too bad.. and as of now i have no classes fridays i want to take advantage of that one weekend & go to new zealand! :D

& good news the uni has some promotion going on for internet quota! so im going to buy it soon & then i can finally go on moreeee HURRAYY!!!!!

& heres a cute picture of a bird that i saw on campus in case u havent seen it in my FOTO page! so cute! but beware after that comes a whole slew of random photos to follow :O)

the bird!

part of gold coast

look at this tree on campus! it has stuff growing down from it!!

on campus; part of the great court

i cant figure out how to rotate the tree picture! :( it does it automatically for some but there is no rotate button :O
okay farewell that is all for now bye byeeeeeee

i know, ive totally been neglecting this blog. im bad at keeping up with things & especially with this limited internet connection, i hardly can go online for more than 5 minutes at a time. pretty pathetic i must say!

today, i went to a large farmer’s market at West End Markets. i bought tons of veggies and fruits and bread!! it’s cheap, fresh, the sizes are larger than at the grocers, and fun to go there too! definitely need to take the ferry there again next saturday :) as for my days here since my arrival, haven’t done much to tell the truth! yet, i havent been sleeping in either! happen to wake up each day around 6 am, then for the next hour or two i drift back and forth in and out of my sleep! haha ive been to the City also known as downtown Brisbane about four or five times (it’s just a 15 minute bus ride) and to Gold Coast the other day. the beach is chilly now so there weren’t that many people around. swimming is unimaginable in this weather! i also visited chinatown here the other day. it’s located in an area called Fortitude Valley and like everything else, i had to take the bus and transfer & take the train there. transportation’s really convenient here, but nothing compared to asia!! hehe and i still am getting used to crossing the road & looking right first. the whole driving on the right side is still weird for me!

overall, the view has been beautiful here. the river, the skyline, rural-er areas, campus, are all gorgeous. im surprised at how nice the weather is here although it’s winter! a bit like january/february minus the rain (well, so far) and sunnier in the afternoons. i have no complaints besides the chilly breeze, which is good :O) however, everything here is so pricey. from food, accommodations, clothes, shoes, accessories, everything has been more expensive than back in the States! literally, the Subway $5 footlong is $7 here, and not even the price exchange rate makes up for it! ugly ass shoes (that are not only hideous, but shitty in quality) are at least $60 here; forever21 clothes, which are cute but not that great in quality, are all at least $60 here too, if not more!! i saw these pair of sneakers i really wanted, and needed especially in this weather, but i looked at the price and was shockeddd—$140!! back home you can buy at least 2 pairs of nice nice shoes!! :( well, i am definitely prepared to buy tons when i get back, especially since it’ll be the xmas season! im so excited for shopping and for recognizable, familiar U.S. brands @ U.S. prices!

alrighty, gotta check my quota. i used up my month’s very limited 400 MB in 2 days when i first got here… now im limiting myself to 0.10 GB everyday. i bought 2 GB for $20..lets see how long this lasts! :Op UPDATE: I USED 0.02 more!! ahh! hahah i must sound psycho but im worried this isn’t even going to last me one week! so skype & video chatting–i doubt that’ll happen at this rate! unless magically i have quota that i can’t use up. hmm..guess this restriction might be good for me; hopefully, ill focus on my academics more :Op!

by the way i got a new phone number!! i doubt anyone reading this is going to call me overseas..ask me for it if you really want! i can send international texts & receive calls all the same :)

& here are a couple of pictures for your enjoyment! don’t forget to check out the Photos. tab @ the top!!

arrived at brisbane 6:30 am here. on the flight, there was a little baby toddler in my cabin who was crying nonstop, so everytime i started falling asleep, i would immediately awaken to her loud screeching! what a wonderful welcome into australia huh :)

on another note, the first thing i noticed upon landing into brisbane was its abundance of lush greenery. there were soo many trees and i felt like i was landing in a forest! its really clean here, & the air is fresh and crisp all day long. i feel like im in europe for part of the time too! & the brisbane river is beautiful! i passed by it on the way to campus from the airport. o speaking of the airport it was pretty ridiculous. they had dogs sniffing every piece of luggage that passed (they were labradors & soo cute & obedient) & it sniffed that i had fruit in my bag..that i had ziplocked and finished before my flight..and thrown away a day ago!

don’t think there are too many students on campus yet, so its empty & not crowded at all. but one thing i hate is that almost everything is closed on sundays so theres nothing to do and nowhere to go!! at least itll be monday tomorrow :) im going downtown tomorrow, after an orientation in the morning and a visit to the bank. better get my phone # and internet all permanently settled before school starts! oh & met my apartmentmates today. one’s another undergrad from malaysia studying food science (who locks herself in her room all day long but when she comes out she talks nonstop), and the other a girl from china getting her masters here in accounting (who is relatively normal hahaha). interesting people!